Detachable nestable three-piece music stand



Feb. 17, 1959 R. JEWELL 2,873,552

DETACHABLE NESTABLE THREE-PIECE MUSIC STAND Filed Feb. 26, 1957 FIGURE-IFIGU RE- 3 FIGURE-2 FIGURE-4 FIGURE 5 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent DETACHABLE NESTABLE THREE-PIECE MUSIC STAND RichardJewell, Seal Beach, Calif. Application February 26, 1957, Serial No.642,490

2 Claims. (Cl. 45-121) This invention relates to detachable, nestablestands and more particularly to detachable, nestable stands which arelight weight and easily portable. More specifically, the classificationof stands to which this invention relates, embraces such devices asportable detachable music stands and display stands.

One object of this invention is the provision of a detachable standwhich combines the advantages of rigidity and stability found inconventional non-portable music stands with the advantages of lightweight and easy portability found in conventional foldable music stands.

Another object of this invention is to provide a stand which may bequickly and easily assembled and disassembled.

A further object is to provide a stand of such configuration that whenit is disassembled its parts may be nested together with similar partsof a plurality of such stands, whereby a plurality of disassembledstands may be arranged in a relatively small and very compact unit whichmay be carried by one or two persons.

While this invention may be utilized to great advantage in numerousdevices falling within the broad category of portable detachable stands,e. g., display stands, advertising signs, and easels, I shall, forpurposes of simplicity, describe my invention as it applies to thesingle category of structures known as music stands.

Conventional modern day music stands are of two general typescollapsible and non-collapsible. By their very nature the heretoforeknown collapsible stands have been uniformly rather delicate andunstable; that is, their foldable members become bent and their jointsbecome loose with continued usage and moderately rough handling, andthey tend to vibrate excessively when accidently bumped.

The non-collapsible music stands possess excellent stability andwearability, but are so bulky and heavy that they cannot be easilytransported or stored. Therefore, it is impossible for a band ororchestra which moves about for its performances, or uses a dual purposerehearsal hall, to easily transport or house its music stands. Thereasons for these difliculties are twofold in basic nature.

(1) All studio stands of the non-collapsible type are designed withdesks with protruding parts for connecting them to the upright piecewhich prohibits nesting of a plurality of desks.

(2) The bases, generally a heavy casting, have no provision in theirdesign for nesting.

This invention however, combines the advantages of stability andwearability, found in non-collapsible music stands, with the advantagesof light weight and easy portability displayed by collapsible musicstands. tionally, this invention provides a stowability feature notfound in either the collapsible or non-collapsible varieties of musicstand, since the separate parts of this invention may be nested with aplurality of similar parts in a compact unit which may be easilytransported or stowed.

The above-enumerated advantages accrue from the Addiinvention describedhere below and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation view of a music stand embodying myinvention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the central portion ofthe desk, together with the upper portion or head, of the standard, forthe music stand shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end oblique view, partially enlarged, of the upperportion, or head of the standard shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the desk shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an exploded sectional view of the base and the lower portionof the standard of the music stand shown in Figure 1.

The detachable stand embodying this invention consists primarily ofthree major parts, a base 10, a vertical standard 2%, and anobject-supporting desk 30. The base iii is adapted to firmly engage thelower end of the standard 29 in such a manner that the two may bequickly and easily detached. Likewise, the upper end of the standard 29is adapted to firmly engage the desk 39 in such a manner that the lattermay be quickly and easily detached from the standard.

The disk-like base It is formed of substantially rigid sheet material,in order to keep its weight to a minimum and to provide an upper surface11 and a lower surface 12 having substantially identical contours orconfigurations. It is only by reason of these substantially identicalconfigurations together with the absence of any verti cal walls on thebase, that it becomes possible to nest a plurality of such bases one toanother.

While there are numerous configurations which would satisfy thespecifications enumerated in the foregoing paragraph, a preferredembodiment of this invention comprises a disk-like base of sheetmaterial whose outer annular area 13 slopes upwardly and inwardly andmerges with an elevated annular portion 14 as shown in Figure 5. Mergingwith the elevated annular portion 14 is an inner annular portion 15having downwardly and inwardly sloping sides terminating in a verticallythreaded aperture 16. It is preferred that the material surrounding theaperture receiving the thread be conical in shape, i. e., it will havewalls disposed at less than 90 from the horizontal. This facilitates thenesting together or" a plurality of bases. The cone thus formedstabilizes the dome of the base and furnishes suificie'nt material inwhich to cut threads. By providing the downwardly sloping sides 15, itis possible to cut a significantly greater number of threads in the base10 than could be provided by perpendicularly threading an aperture in aflat sheet of material of the same thickness.

The standard is provided with a threaded lower end 21, which is adaptedto be screwed into the threaded aperture 16 of the base 10. The upperend of the standard 20 is provided with a head 22 having a planar face23. Centrally located on the face 23 is a short upwardly projecting key24 having two sides 25 and 251: whose intersections with the top 26 forma V shape. An end elevation of the key 24, as seen in Figure 3, revealsthat the sides 25 and 25a slope upwardly and outwardly from the face 23,describing: a truncated V shape.

The desk 3% is formed of substantially rigid sheet material providing anupper surface 31 and a lower surface 32 of substantially identicalconfigurations. This configuration provides a rigid, stable,light-weight structure which may be nested with a plurality of similarlyformed desks. Centrally located in the desk is a V-shaped aperture 33adapted to receive the V-shaped key 24. The edges 34 and 34a which formthe V-shaped sides of the aperture 33 are formed with a slightly upwardslope from the surrounding material of the desk 36.

The desk SO-is'attached to the head 22 by sliding the V-shaped aperturedownwardly over the -shaped key 24 until: the planar face 23 contactsthe lower surface 32 of the desk 30. A light downward manual tap on thetop edge 35 of the desk will cause the desk to slide downward across theplanar face 23 a slight amount. This in turnwill cause the upwardly andoutwardly sloping sides 25 and 25a of the key 24 to depress the slightlyupwardly sloping edges Maud 34a of the desk, whereby the downwardwedging action of the V-sided key 24- against the spring tension of theedges 34 and 34a provides a firm engagement between the desk 31' and thehead 22.

The desk can be very quickly and easily detached from thehead byapplying an upward manual tap to the ledge 36 which is a'lfixed to thebottom edge or" the desk 30 tosupport light objects such as sheet music,and t then lifting the desk away from the head 22.

By providing a detachable stand having the configurations and attachingmeans described above, it is possible to stow twenty-five of such standsin a carrying case measuring-9 x 14- x 37". In this connection it mustberemembered that in Figure 1 each standard is 34" long, each desk is12" high and 18 wide, and each base is 13" in diameter. A furtheradvantage accruing from this. invention in addition to those enumeratedheretofore, is the fact that this stand may be disassembled and stowedin the carrying case in not more than ten seconds; the. time forremoving the parts from the carrying case and assembling in a stand is afew seconds longer. Furthermore, with only three detachable parts to theentire structure, the chances of losing a part are diminished over thosedevices consisting of more parts.

I claim:

1. A detachable, nestable, three-piece stand including a disc-like basemember, a vertical cylindrical standard, a head afiixed to the upper endof said standard, said head having at least one planar face, arelatively short flat-topped key centrally. affixed to the planar faceof said head, said key having two non-parallel opposing sides'presentinga V-shape when viewed from the top and a truncated V-shape when viewedin cross-sectional elevation, and a desk member composed ofsubstantially rigid and relatively thin sheet material formed to presentupper and lower surfaces of substantially identical configurationswhereby a plurality of desks formed identically to said desk may benested together in such manner that 4 the upper surface of one deskcontacts substantially all of the lower surface of the upwardlyadjoining desk, said desk having a centrally located V-shaped apertureformed to receive said key, and the material forming the V-like edges ofsaid V-shaped aperture having a slightly upward slope from thesurrounding material constituting the desk.

2. A detachable, nestable, three-piece stand including a sheet-materialbase whose entire; outer portion slopes upwardly and inwardly and mergeswith an elevated portion, said elevated portion having a central annularportion composed of downwardly and inwardly sloping sides terminating ina threaded aperture, the'upper and lower surfaces of said sheet-materialbase having substantially identical configurations whereby a pluralityof bases formed identically to said base may be nested together in closeproximity, a two-ended vertical standard whose lower end is threaded. toengage the. threaded aperture in. said base, a head afiixed' to theupper end of said standard, saidhead having at least one: planar face, arelatively short flat-topped key centrally affixed to the planar face ofsaid head, said key having two non-parallel opposing sides presenting aV-shape when viewed from-the top and a truncated V-shape when viewed incross-sectional elevation, and a desk member composed. of substantiallyrigid and relatively thin sheet material formed to present upper andlower surfaces of substantially identical configurations whereby aplurality of desks formed identically to said deskrnay be nestedtogether in such manner that the upper surface of one desk contactssubstantially all of the lower. surface of the upwardly adjoiningdesk,said desk having a centrally located V-shaped aperture formedto. receivesaid key, and the material forming the V-like edges of said ll-shapedaperture having a slightly upward slope from the surrounding materialconstituting the desk.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 263,667Roberts Aug. 29,1882 1,069,617 Ilvonen Aug. 5, 1913 1,072,060 ThompsonSept. 2, 1913 1,958,834 Moore, May 15', 1934 2,270,041 Fergusson Jan.13, 1942 2,315,608 Fergusson' Apr. 6, 1943 2,481,264 Tulowiecki Sept: 6,1949 2,508,694 Steed May 23, 1950. 2,568,534 Baker Sept. 18, 1951'

